# vLLM

> Apache-2.0 high-throughput LLM inference and serving engine

**Category:** AI Agents  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://vllm.ai  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm  
**Added:** 2026-09-11

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## The Hook

vLLM is the OpenAI-compatible serving engine when local chat UIs are not enough and you need PagedAttention throughput.

## What's Good

Apache-2.0. vllm-project/vllm. Continuous batching, PagedAttention, broad model/quantization support, OpenAI-compatible API server. Built for GPU (and growing accelerator) serving at scale — docs at docs.vllm.ai.

## The Catch

Vs Ollama (local model runner UX): vLLM is a serving/inference engine, not a laptop chat app. Expect CUDA/ROCm/TPU ops, driver versions, and multi-GPU reality. CPU-only is not the point. You bring hardware and ops.

## Verdict

Apache-2.0 LLM serving. Free forever software; the bill is GPUs and the cluster, not a license key.